EXPERTS ADVISORY

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been invited by U.S. Speaker Paul Ryan to address a joint meeting of Congress June 8, making him the fifth Indian prime minister to do so.

This will also be Modi’s fourth visit to America in two years of office.

University of Michigan experts can comment on the impact of the visit on Indo-U.S. relations:

Puneet Manchanda, professor of marketing at the Ross School of Business, is an expert on business in emerging markets, business in India, and strategy and marketing issues.

“Modi’s visit to the U.S. comes at a crucial time for the Indian government,” he said. “While the Indian economy is in reasonable shape, there is no palpable sense of positive momentum, especially on initiatives such as ‘Make in India.’ My sense is that the prime minister is hoping to build and leverage relationships during this trip to try and get a bigger share of outsourcing dollars on manufacturing, especially in key industries like defense.”

Contact: 734-936-2445, pmanchan@umich.edu

M.S. Krishnan is associate dean of global initiatives and professor of technology and operations at the Ross School of Business. He studies business in India and computer information systems and has led several student projects in India.

“Given the opportunities for collaborative partnership between the U.S. and India across economic, social and cultural domains, this address at the Joint Meeting of Congress by Prime Minister Modi is significant,” he said. “The quality of supply and the scale of demand across the two nations makes higher education a fertile area for collaboration.”

Contact: 734-763-6749, mskrish@umich.edu

Leela Fernandes, professor of women’s studies and political science, studies the relationship between politics and culture.

Contact: 734-780-7514, leelaf@umich.edu